Liangfen-Chinese Jelly Noodles

Liangfen (凉粉) is one type of Jelly noodles which are quite popular in western part of China. Generally, Liangfen is made with starch, pea starch, sweet potato starch or mung bean starch. In today’s recipe, I amusing mung bean starch to make mung bean jelly noodles. They are crystal, smooth and cool.

There is a famous dish in Sichuan province named as Beichuan Liangfen ( heart breaking jelly noodles). It is featured by the spicy taste. If you feel sad or heart breaking, go and taste it, then your sadness will go with wind since it is too spicy so that all the feeling you have is spicy taste.In addition to an easy Sichuan style dressing jelly noodle salad, those jelly noodles can be also stir-fried. Fried jelly noodle is a famous street food.

Cook’s note

You need to mix the starch with water and set aside for minutes until they are well combined.

Before pouring the mixture into the boiling water, stir the mixture once again in case the starch is settled to the bottom.

My favorite ratio of jelly noodles is 1:9 (starch vs water). But it can succeed with small adjustments. But you need to add at least 8 portions water or 10 portions water at most for each portion of starch. The more water you add, the more tender the jelly noodle can be.

Ingredients

1 cup mung bean starch (around 120g)

4 and 1/2 cup water, divided

Instructions

In a large bowl, mung bean starch with 1 cup of water. Set aside until they are well combined.

In a pot, boil the left 3 and ½ cups of water in a larger pot. Turn down the fire firstly and then stir the starch mixture in slowly. Gently stir during pouring. Heat until the mixture turns transparent.

In a large bowl, mung bean starch with 1 cup of water. Set aside until they are well combined.

In a pot, boil the left 3 and 1/2 cups of water in a larger pot. Turn down the fire firstly and then stir the starch mixture in slowly. Gently stir during pouring. Heat until the mixture turns transparent.

Transfer out and cool down completely.

Then cut into small strips.

Place chopped garlic and half of the green onion in a bowl.Heat oil until hot. Pour the hot oil over the garlic. Mix all the other seasonings in.

This dish looks both beautiful and delicious. I have a soft spot in my heart for asian noodles of any kind, but Sichuan cooking is one of my favorites. I can’t wait to try these since I always want to make hand-made noodles.

What’s the ratio of mung bean starch to water? I bought mung bean starch from a korean market, but the directions are all in korean and I don’t speak korean. How much water should I use to mix the mung bean starch with?

Hi Lynn,
It depends on how you want to use the mung bean starch. For jelly noodles, the ratio of mung bean starch and water should be 1:6. For coating or other usages, usually I would recommend a 1:1 ratio, but also differ from how thick you want to sauce to be.

Hi, I have tried many types of starch which includes corn starch, potato starch and mung bean starch and the ratio is 1:6 to make Liangfen noodles as according to the steps as directed and keep in refrigerator for 1 hour and sometimes even longer but the result wasn’t good as expected because it was very soft and easily broken into pieces. Why, can you give me some advice. Thank you

I tried to make these and weighed out all the ingredients correctly. I stirred the water together with the mung bean starch, let it sit for 15 minutes, then stirred it again to make sure it was smooth when I poured it into the boiling water, but when I poured it in it got clumpy. A good portion of it turned to the clear paste, but I couldn’t get rid of these hard clumps that formed. What am I doing wrong?

Hi Elaine, I love this recipe and have made it many times for myself and for guests, who always love it. I rarely get to eat this dish unless I am visiting China which these days is not often, maybe every 2-3 years. There is an authentic Chinese restaurant near me that serves this, but the dressing it mostly oil. Yours is just the perfect balance of flavors. Well done.

I do seem to have an issue when adding the starch mixture to boiling water as in the recipe, it does not mix well for me and forms clumps, so maybe I am doing something wrong. Instead I mix all the water with the starch at once and bring it to a boil which works for me. Maybe I am not patient enough. 🙂

Anita,
When pouring the starch mixture, please control your speed and keep stirring. But it is completely ok to mix the ingredients directly before heating. You are a creative cook.
When I eat locally in my city, I found the same problems quite universal too. Restaurants are pursuing too much spices and oil and make the dishes universally the same. Home made Sichuan dishes are much healthier, lighter and more delicious.

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